Georgian President Foresees NATO Membership By 2008

EUROPLEX

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Tbilisi (AFP) Nov 23, 2005
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Wednesday he was sure his country would become a NATO member before his term of office expires in 2008.

"Whether we'll achieve to become part of EU, I don't know. We'll do our best," he said at a news conference in the capital Tbilisi

"I think during my presidency we will be members of NATO. That's for sure. But it's not the main thing. The main thing for us is peaceful settlement of conflicts and making democratic development and economic progress irreversible."

He said that problems of the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia had to be settled by Moscow and Tbilisi.

"There is no other side (in these conflicts). This is a Russian-Georgian problem. People there and local governments are under the control of Moscow. So we should deal with Moscow. What we have to do is to get a more pragmatic approach," he said.

Abkhazia gained de facto independence after fighting a war with Tbilisi in the early 1990s in which thousands were killed and a quarter of a million people displaced.

Russia has had a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia since the war. But while Moscow officially recognises Georgian sovereignty in Abkhazia, Tbilisi accuses Russia of backing, arming and financing the rebels.

The tiny South Caucasus region of South Ossetia unilaterally proclaimed independence the day after the fall of the Soviet Union and fought a brief armed conflict with Georgia in 1992. Fresh confrontations broke out in August 2004, costing many lives on both sides.

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EUROPLEX

EU Moves To Open Up Defense Market

Brussels (UPI) Nov 18, 2005
European Union defense ministers will take a small but significant step Monday towards opening up the bloc's notoriously closed defense industry market by agreeing to a voluntary code of conduct on equipment procurement.

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